Colorado Rockies: Ranking Nolan Arenado among MLB’s third basemen

No. 4 – Jose Ramirez
Jose Ramirez has quietly progressed to become one of Major League Baseball’s finest hitters. Baseball-Reference has Ramirez at a .318 average with 29 home runs, 83 RBI and an OPS of .957 in 2017. He also led the American League with 56 doubles. Ramirez isn’t just a free-swinging extra-base machine. The switch-hitting Ramirez has a superior eye for contact, leading his third base compadres in contact percentage, according to our friends at FanGraphs.

He isn’t just a great hitter though. Jose Ramirez is a pure athlete through-and-through. This is reinforced by his ability to play multiple positions throughout his five seasons in the league. While he spent a lot of time filling in for the injured Jason Kipnis last season, the majority of his games are played at third base.

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It also says something about Jose Ramirez to be the best player on the Cleveland team that won over 100 games last season. He started third base for the American League All-Star team. Ramirez also finished third in the American League MVP race.

No. 3 – Josh Donaldson

In the audio clip that started this article, Phillips mentioned that Josh Donaldson isn’t properly rated as one of the top third basemen in the league. I don’t know what he means by that. Since Donaldson was called up with the Oakland Athletics in 2012, he has the second highest WAR rating, only behind Mike Trout, according to FanGraphs. He won the American League MVP in 2015, finished fourth in the 2013 and 2016 American League MVP.

However, when talking about top three talents at a single position, there isn’t going to be much to separate guys…but there is still some separation.

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com

Looking at his overall body of work in 2017, Josh Donaldson had a down year compared to Bryant and Arenado. That’s not a knock on his production. Donaldson had a great year … just not as great when put in a line with the top two on the list. Some of his down production could be blamed on a leg injury he suffered in the early spring.

Going into the 2018 season (also a contract year), there isn’t a single thing that would indicate Josh Donaldson won’t perform at an elite level.